It’s a pleasure to take part in this very important debate on the Family Fund. Of course, as we’ve heard, this is not the biggest fund ever, but it’s important because it provides direct funding to poor families who have children with serious illness and serious disabilities. The funding goes directly. It isn’t redirected through alternative sources that tend to suck some of the money out through administrative acts, whichever project they’re dealing with. Of course, it’s worth noting that there are additional costs in having a disability, particularly if we accept the social model of disability. That means that there is a responsibility on everyone, therefore, to recognise that social model of disability, and a responsibility on everyone to get rid of those barriers that are in the way of people who have a disability living a full life. So, in recognising the importance of that social model of disability, we have to accept that there are additional costs, therefore, to ensuring that people with disabilities can live a full life.

Of course, there are additional costs. There’s additional equipment as we’ve heard already. There is very complex care, and not all of it can be provided by the health service or social services. Parents have to work flexibly, sometimes not at all, and, of course, this causes great stress for families. I do believe that it is a moral duty on us as a society generally to help to look after our most vulnerable children, because we could all have been a parent of a child with a disability. Very fortunately the majority of us aren’t in that position, but I do think that there is a moral duty on us to help to look after those parents who are in that situation. Because, as a GP—I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this previously—having spent 30 years as a GP in Swansea I have known and still know a lot of families who have this problem on a long-term basis. I’ve seen babies born, and now they’re adults with extreme disabilities, and the stress has been huge, and, yes, as a health service and social services we can provide as much as we can, but there are always additional costs that families have to bear.

The financial pressure, of course, is worse in a family on a low income. It’s double jeopardy.We know already that poverty leads to poor health, but think, if you have poor health to start with because you have a disability, then poverty makes things worse. Those two things affect the quality of your life because it’s very difficult when there is insufficient funding. On top of that, families do feel under great oppression. People don’t want to have to ask for additional funding all the time, and they do feel alienation, particularly from the Government at Westminster in terms of the benefits and so forth. On top of that now, they are losing this direct funding. As has been already noted, the loss of the Family Fund is not happening in any other country. Wales is the only country losing this direct payment, and Wales is the poorest country. It doesn’t make sense. England, Scotland and Northern Ireland are maintaining their Family Funds.

Basically, we are losing funding here. I know how these things happen: there’s restructuring, and there are unintended consequences, as they would say over the border. But, basically, families are losing direct funding. Our motion notes an opportunity to give this money back in any way, but it’s important that the money does go directly to those families and isn’t sucked into any kind of project funding structures in the third sector and then lost in terms of being direct funding for our most vulnerable families. Thank you very much.